Horn Stalkball

I'm on a roll with obscure fungi. Behind the garden shed we have a small space where I keep bricks, paving slabs and such like 'just in case'. I seldom venture behind the shed but was drawn there this morning by an unpleasant odour. I discovered that my daughter had left (probably several years ago) the skulls from her 'larger' skull collection there (her 'smaller' skull collection is housed in crates in her bedroom). Amongst the former is a ram's skull complete with curly horns. Growing on the curly horns I found dozens of tiny Horn Stalkball (Onygena equina) fungi. This is an unusual fungus that feeds on the keratin in putrefying hooves and horn.

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